


Till Death

by bendingwind



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-09
Updated: 2010-07-09
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:17:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bendingwind/pseuds/bendingwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two people who loved or will love go to their deaths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Till Death

It is the first kind thing he’s done in _so, so many_ years, and it brings him back to himself a bit. The Singing Towers of Darillium were a favorite of his when he was the Doctor. He cries as he tucks the screwdriver into the pocket of a sleeping River, for her to discover later. A teardrop falls on her face, and he realizes he is crying.

It’s been so long since last he cried. She shifts and begins to wake, and quickly—before she opens her eyes and begins to ask questions—he leaves. He wonders if she can hear the sound as the TARDIS dematerializes, and whether or not it makes her sad. His time machine, his beloved beautiful machine hurtles through time and space, and he feels the deep-throat madness and manic glee of murder fall back into place, and he begins to consider what he will do to the planet Odin for harboring dalek spies. A grin stretches across his face in a gross caricature of a once-sincere smile, and the TARDIS grinds to a halt.

***

_What, I’m not allowed to have a career, I suppose?_

***

The people of Odin are screaming amidst the flames of perdition, and he is God now. All those who opposed him, those who fought him, those who once locked him in a box for eternity—they will die. Those who aid them will die. The universe will burn, if need be, and it will be his hand that strikes the spark.

A little boy runs from a smoldering building, trying to get away, and the Doctor burns him where he stands. He is wearing a school uniform with dark, uniform buttons down the front, so he too is guilty.

***

_Spoilers._

***

“You are all sinners,” he pronounces, his voice magnified thousand fold, so that all may hear him. “You serve a race that would kill the universe, and as they must be punished for their sins, so must you be punished. You will all _burn.”_

And they do.

***

_You wouldn't have a chance and neither do I! I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download._

***

He walks through the ashes of a world to the only spot of color on the horizon, a speck of distant blue. Idly, his hand trails across an old rail, covered with ash, and his fingers comes away sooty. He wipes it across his face, mixing it with the blood that is already there.

***

_Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you -the real you, the future you, I mean-you turned up on my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. Oh, what a night that was. The towers sang...and you cried._

***

He kicks a skeleton away from the door to the TARDIS, dislodging the burnt bundle of flesh it was cradling in its arms. The human must have seen that it wasn’t burning, and tried to flee there with its child. Pitiful.

***

_You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time-my time, time to come to The Library. You even gave me your sonic screwdriver-that should have been a clue._

***

The door squeaks on hinges that have been neglected for far too long, and scrapes against the floor as it opens. He hums quietly to himself as he enters the TARDIS and closes the door behind him. He makes his way to the console and, with the push of a few buttons, begins to watch the destruction all over again on the monitor.

***

_There’s nothing you can do._

***

He watches as a man tries to shield his wife as their home explodes. He watches a young girl grab a toddler’s hand and try to pull him to safety, and he watches as they are swept away in a flood he caused.

And all the while, he wears the same grin of manic glee. He is saving the universe.

***

_If you die here, it’ll mean I’ve never met you._

***

He watches all the recordings, hours and hours, and not a single dalek makes an appearance. He shrugs. There are signs of them everywhere, in the architecture, the racism, the darkness of mankind. Even if they had no daleks on this planet, they were once influenced by them. He smiles and cracks his knuckles and prepares to travel to his next world.

***

_Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. It's okay. It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run._

***

There is a slight sound from behind him as he pulls down a lever with a bulbous protrusion from the top, and he begins to turn. He never sees the gun that sends an explosive bullet through his head, or the blue-eyed little girl with curly blonde hair that shot it. She kneels down beside his body and tries to turn him so that she can look into the face she didn’t see when she hid in the strange blue box down her street.

His face has been destroyed, and she never does find out what he looked like.

***

_Hush, now. Spoilers._

***

Somewhere in time and space, a Time Lord is mourning a woman he failed to save, a woman who died so that he might live, and a little girl named River is rocking back and forth above the body of the first man she’s ever killed, too broken to cry.

 

 

* * *


End file.
